In August, first prize in the digital-art category of the Colorado State Fair’s fine-art competition went to a man who used artificial intelligence (AI) to generate his submission, “Théâtre d’Opéra Spatial.” He supplied the AI, a program called Midjourney, with only a “prompt”—a textual description of what he wanted. Systems like Midjourney and the similar DALL-E 2 have led to a new role in our AI age: “prompt engineer.” Such people can even sell their textual wares in an online market called PromptBase.
Midjourney and DALL-E 2 emerged too late to be included in “Working With AI: Real Stories of Human-Machine Collaboration,” by Thomas Davenport and Steven Miller, information-systems professors at Babson College and Singapore Management University, respectively. But the authors note other novel titles: chief automation officer; senior manager of content systems; architect, ethical AI practice. As AI’s influence expands, its borders with the work world gain complexity. Next up: deputy regional manager of AI-prompt quality and security assurance.
